Don Quixote vacation--crazy, sure, but doable?
 

My 10 day Study Abroad with a little extension to tour has morphed to add a full Southeast tour before with my husband, and a York / Hadrian's Wall visit after with my mother (73).

I'd like to give a basic itinerary and see what your thoughts are about doability. My husband and I are covering more ground to get a taste of more, while my mother and I will do more lingering. I wasn't sure if I should split my threads, so I apologize for length! Comments on any/all are greatly appreciated!

And so we begin:

Day 1: Land @ Heathrow between 10-10:30 and pick up rental car. Make our way down to Eastbourne / Beachy Head. Check into B&B near BH and spend afternoon evening at cliffs. (I can't remember who sent me the pictures link, but THANK YOU! I am really excited to see them!)

Day 2: Drive to Chawton to see Jane Austen Museum (unsure whether to go Portsmouth route or through South Downs National Park--scenery is always good, but we don't want to spend all day on road through park), then on to Stonehenge. We don't know how long Stonehenge will take, so if, by some impossible chance, we have daylight left, we'd like to wander Avebury also. Our B&B is between the two.

Day 3: Bath. Mayor's Volunteer tour, Roman baths, museum, crescent. Parking on fringe in a lot, but would also appreciate recommendations.
-----check into B&B on north outskirts of Bristol to base for next few days------

4/5: Wales--St. Fagans? Tintern Abbey drive?

6: Drop car early and take train from Bristol to London. Check into hotel (nearish Euston). If time, dh continuing on to RAF museum for a quick blitz there. Me: unknown.

7: Very early Eurostar to Paris for a brief day there.

8: London: Tower first thing only decision. (this is dh only full day in London)

9: I join my group for 10 days over which I have very little control :), dh has morning in London, then early evening flight out LHR. Would it be possible to hit Churchill War Rooms first thing and be done by 1pm? Flight @ 5:10.

Last leg with my mother.
1: Meet her @ LGW @ noon and we take train to Newcastle, pick up rental car and drive to Haltwhistle B&B.

2: Vindolanda / Hadrian's Wall

3: Drive to York. There for 4 days: Walking tour, Minster, shambles, Viking place?, Castle Howard, cemetery at St. Martin's and one by church in Appleton (Mom has researched ancestors who were buried there in 1600s), races at Catterick Racecourse . . . ?

7: Drive south to LGW (we want to have a car when we get there, and we both like driving).

8: Crawley area--Box Hill

9: Fly Home--which may be tricky. I leave my mom at LGW, then bus (from other threads I think that will be easiest route?) to LHR for my flight--having evolved as a trip, our tickets didn't line up. Ah, well.

Whew! If you made it this far, bless your heart :). Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions on any of the plans or places.

gogo:

You're doing it..no matter how you do it....you will be seeing and doing everything you plan to...don't recall what time the Churchill war rooms open, but I feel two hours will get you through meaningfully, with ample time to get to LHR for your flight. Have fun! (If things get too tight, just leave Paris for another time.)
stu

Just a couple of quick thoughts. Am off for the day but will come back with more comments.

Day 1 is bad IMO. Driving after an overnight flight is dangerous.

It is hard to do a quick tour of the war rooms/museum. Plan on about two hours. But yes there is plenty of time to do it before the flight. Problem is the luggage. No left luggage at the site so he'd have to leave his bags at the hotel and return to get them before out to LHR.

You can get a coach from Heathrow to Eastbourne, possibly changing in Brighton. You could hire a car locally, having had a chance to get over jetlag.

www.nationalexpress.com

Your Day 1 makes me nervous too. Those are busy, BUSY roads and you'll most likely be cream crackered after your incoming flight. Another option along with Patrick's coach recommendation would be to take the tube from LHR into Victoria Station in London, then take the direct Southern train from there to Eastbourne.

I can advise on the South Downs National park (I live there). Going cross country thru the park from Eastbourne to Chawton (approx 2.5 hours) probably won't take any longer than via the congested coastal A27 road to Portsmouth - and it will be infinitely more enjoyable/scenic than the ugly semi-urban sprawl along much of the couth coast.

BTW the South Downs National Park is nothing like the NP's you're used to in the USA. It is the UK's newest NP, having only been set up a couple of years ago (many people here haven't even heard of it, so well done you!). The scenery is gentle rolling chalk hills ("downs"), woods and lush fields, interspersed with attractive villages and small towns. But it's a bustling area, with a population of over 100,000 (many of whom commute to London to work), and unlike parts of the Cotswolds, does not have a strong touristy vibe to it.

An ambitious plan but doable, the welsh bit might be too tough but if you find yourself behind a caravan on a narrow road you might have to just stop and look at the sheep.

First day, good advice

York viking place (is a bit "disneyesque" which is an insult in the UK), but if you have never smelt viking poo then this might be for you. York and environs has so much more to offer. If you search on fodorite Morgana you will see a whole bunch of ideas.

Boxhill and Eastbourne, neither leap to the top of my mind as a thrill packed area.

Where does Don Quixote come into it?

Nonconformist--DQ dreamed the impossible dream!

bilbo--disneyesque made me lose interest, smelling viking poo . . . now that is something my boys would be interested in hearing about! I will search Morgana as I would like to have more options there.

If we do St. Fagan's one day and Tintern Abbey the second day, would that work?

Gordon--We love to drive through scenic areas and South Downs NP sounds (and looks on Google Earth :) ) really lovely. The timeline was very helpful as that is hard to ballpark noting from other threads that distances on mapping sites are not always near the reality.

Patrick, Janis, and all who noted it--it sounds like we need to rethink our day one. My husband has done some driving in Europe and is feeling confident. I will have him read all your posts and then we can re-discuss!

Also, Janis and Tower--thanks for Churchill info. Luggage is the issue. Our hotel will hold it, but that would mean going back across town to get it. Thinking he could make it work.

I REALLY appreciate you all reading and giving your thoughts.